


On Terrible Nightmares and Perfect Daydreams

by art_deco_deity



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 10:25:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18071645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/art_deco_deity/pseuds/art_deco_deity
Summary: Zelda is warm when Link reaches for her; soft and lying just past the edge of his finger tips.





	On Terrible Nightmares and Perfect Daydreams

**Author's Note:**

> anyway i was feeling soft and i just want my favorite two to be happy.

Link is no stranger to nightmares. 

He had been seeing death and destruction, monsters and demons, since the second he woke up on the Great Plateau. During the day -if he tries really hard- he can push the disturbing thoughts past his consciousness and forget. But now it is night, quiet and still and so dark, and the monsters sit behind his eyelids, waiting to strike once he falls asleep. He heaves a breath and recalls the dream, his fingers beginning to shake and his blood running cold. 

—-  
Gannon stuck him down, shooting a beam at his chest and piercing though Link's armor. He fell, hitting the ground with a crash, his hands failing to come out and brace his fall. Lying there, gravely injured and cold on the sanctum floor, Link was unable to move and hardly able to breath through all the pain. Gannon roared, and dark pools of malice suddenly swirled around Link's limp body, writhing like black parasites as they curled closer. His legs were unresponsive and all he could do was scream as the malice wrapped it's vile tendrils around him. Eventually Link was covered in the ooze, his breathing constricted, and bones heavier than he had ever felt them be before. 

Zelda seemed to materialize out of nowhere, appearing awash in a golden light brighter than the sun. She faced him, smiling so serenely he could feel himself melting. Gracefully avoiding all the malice, and seemingly unaware of Calamity Gannon behind her, Zelda walked toward him.  He tried to scream; tried to warn her as Gannon loomed closer to her turned back. But all he could taste was malice and it filled his lungs and stole his air, and no sound came out.

All the knight could do was watch as Gannon speared her; a claw stuck through her chest, and a soundless scream from Link was all that accompanied her death.   
—-

The dream was familiar. He had been seeing that specific death, and other similar ones every time he closed his eyes. Maybe it was subconscious guilt from how long it took Link to save her, or maybe it was just anxiety, but Link wanted the disturbing images to stop. 

He reached out, fingers grazing the soft sheets of his bed, eyes closed and searching. She lies just beyond his finger tips. Her breath is soft, and she is still sleeping soundless and serene. He reaches for her, winding an arm around her side and pulling her in close. Link cradles Zelda like a gift, as he tucks his face into her neck. He can hear her pulse, feel it on the side of his face, and it soothes him. Zelda is warm, and soft, and alive, and he can feel her under his fingertips. She breaths quietly, stirring awake and looks at him with familiar doe-like eyes. 

"Bad dream, again?" She asks, soft voice tinged with sleep and peace. 

He nods against the junction of her shoulder and neck, nuzzling into her like he wants to disappear into her skin. Everything is warm, and he can feel Zelda run fingers through his hair. A shiver passes through him and with her near the knight can breathe easier. 

"Are you ever going to tell me what it is you dream about?" Zelda asks lightly, planting a feather-light kiss to the top of her knight's head. 

Link sighs, and tightens his arms around her, flipping them over so she's laying on top of him. Zelda doesn't mind as Link once again tries to pull her closer. 

"Is that a no then, hero?" She giggles lightly, her breath hot and pleasant on Link's skin. 

"Yes, princess." He teases, sticking his tongue out and onto her skin in a way that makes her laugh. 

"You never did talk much did you?" Zelda braces her forearm against his chest, raising herself up so she can see his face. 

"That's funny. You usually tell me I talk too much now." His quip is quiet, and laced with the special sort of affection he held only for her. 

"Only when you talk to Karson and Bolson. I swear they never leave." 

He gives a quiet chuckle, bringing his hands up to cradle Zelda's face, holding it like it was the only thing in Hyrule worth cherishing. Zelda smiled softly in the way that makes his heart sing, and turned her head to place a kiss into one of his palms. The gesture helps Link breathe easier, and he looks at her with renewed strength, finally willing to tell her about his dream. 

"I dreamt that I couldn't save you. You died and I was too weak to stop it." He relented, closing his eyes and seemingly reliving the nightmare. 

"Look at me." It's her turn to grab his face in her hands, gently caressing the side of it until he looks at her. "I am here. We are here. Together. I know that alone won't stop your dreams, but I do hope it provides you some comfort when you are awake." 

It was still early and the rising sun cast an orange glow to the room. It danced on the edge of Zelda's face, kissing her cheeks in red-yellow tangerine, and backing her in shimmering rays of early morning sunlight. Sometimes, Link forgot about Zelda's goddess blood; but here, awash in gold and orange and pure light, she bordered just on the edge of genuine divinity. 

Link breathed in the look on her face, consuming it like a drowning man who found a singular pocket of oxygen. Zelda's eyes were kind and gentle and radiating a love Link never even dared to dream of. 

Suddenly all the nightmares became worth it; he would go through it all over again just for this one moment. Because Zelda was here, safe in his arms, warmer and more alive then anything he'd ever known, and she looked him with such an endless and easy affection. With her around, Link often felt his heart just on the edge of bursting; but as he took in her tired eyes and felt her kiss his forehead, Link was sure his chest was already blazing hot and tangible with the heat of all he felt for his princess. It was bliss and admiration and trust and contentedness and the purest, most child-like devotion. It was over one-hundred years of knowing her, and over one-hundred years of loving her spilling out of him in that moment. 

Zelda was the only goddess Link had ever believed in; the only divine being left in their broken world. And when she placed her head back down on his chest, sighing as she felt the rising sun's rays on her back, Link felt like praying. She was intangible and smarter then he could ever be and kinder then Link could ever believe.

Zelda was the perfect daydream to rival his nightmares. She was an eternal summer; blistering with a white-hot intensity and searing with saccharine sweetness he'd get to hold in his hands for the rest of his life. In Link's eyes, his princess could rival the sun, replace it as the center of everyone's universe; Hylia knows she was already the center of his. 

So he tightened his arms around her, holding onto her like he wanted to hoard her light for himself. She only replicated his hold, looking up at him and whispering that she loved him. 

Link, utterly content and incredibly comfortable, breathed in the dream he was living and found that suddenly the nightmares didn't matter as much anymore.


End file.
